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10 Essential Strategies For Surviving Bad Nonprofit Bosses
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Updated - 07/29/2024
A good boss at any point in your career — especially during the early stages — is worth their weight in gold and can be a magnificent source of wisdom and inspiration. They can help build your self-esteem, boost your work output, and help you find satisfaction and prospects for the future. But let’s face reality: The odds are that during your career you’re going to have to cope with a supervisor that is something less — sometimes profoundly less — than a constructive presence in your career.
Everyone is human, blessed with both strengths and weaknesses. In our respective workplaces that can translate to the best of times or the worst of times. Bad nonprofit bosses come in many different forms and are a result of personality, background, and character flaws. Like the rest of you, I have worked for men and women that changed the course of my career for the better, and others who were a nuisance and put up roadblocks to my potential to be productive and effective in a variety of fundraising and advancement roles.
Here are ten lessons in surviving and moving forward when reporting to a leader who clearly lacks leadership skills and leaves co-workers wondering what they are doing in such positions of authority in the first place. Each point captures a different scenario and corresponds with the list of coping strategies.
The different ways bad nonprofit bosses can manifest
- People in leadership positions for the first time in their careers: Experience endures as the best teacher of all. Learning on the job is exceptionally crucial at every stage of life. This holds even more sway the higher you rise on the organizational chart. The biggest threat comes from individuals who don’t realize the attributes they lack and important lessons that they must learn. So, it’s fitting that the first precarious scenario is working for someone who has never served as CEO, President, Board Chair or in another leadership position in the nonprofit. The situation is exacerbated when they falsely believe that they already know it all.
- Personality flaws: I can’t pretend to be equipped to provide psychoanalysis, but time and time again those suffering from insecurity complexes will wreak havoc in the lives of team members. More often than not, they will constantly want to prove that they know more than you do, or simply know it all. There is no one that knows it all, and great leaders are the first to embrace this truth. Insecure leaders are fed by an insatiable need to prove that they are right, whether they are or not. A common denominator is when they take credit for your work, fearing that others will conclude you are smarter or more capable than them.
- The micro-manager: A wise leader places their emphasis on supporting the success of staff members, not doing their jobs. A terrible trait is constantly checking in on the progress of staff members, which impedes their capacity to complete tasks. In the hybrid work environment this often becomes even worse with a supervisor endlessly emailing, texting, calling, or video-conferencing staff and getting in the way. More likely than not, the micro-manager doesn’t understand that their leadership responsibilities include focusing on providing vision, direction, and inspiration for their teams.
- Major gift donors who despise your supervisor, yet he/she always insists on participating in meetings: The truth is if your supervisor displays personality flaws to you, they will also exhibit them to others. When loyal major donors fall in this group, the financial stability of the organization is jeopardized. This rises to the level that you might be best served in getting the advice and counsel of other senior administrators, board members, and those well-respected within your organization.
- Failing to give positive feedback when warranted: This is another recurring sign of insecurity. The truth is they are likely envious of your good work, skills, and ability to complete projects. They fear that they will fall short by comparison.
- Welcoming gossip: This is another serious warning sign that that a boss is not fit to lead. Gossip poisons the work culture and weakens the potential of a team to come together to champion the mission. When a leader openly encourages gossip, it is especially damning. The repercussions run deep and jeopardize prospects for office harmony and productivity.
Coping strategies to survive bad bosses
- To cope, be patient, patient, and even more patient: Slowly, likely painfully so, you will learn clues on how to make your supervisor happy. The quickest route is often by going out of your way to make them look good, whether they deserve to or not. In HR circles, this is called “managing up.”
- To cope, participate jointly in training programs and conferences: A bad boss is a far reach from a practitioner of good management. Being in the company of cohesive advancement supervisor-employee duos might rub off and provide guidance on what an effective working relationship looks like, especially from the top down.
- Discreetly seek advice from mentors, those in leadership positions, and colleagues on options: You are not alone. We have all endured that terrible experience at some point in our careers. Other leaders might be able to share their coping experiences and even how they were able to mature and improve in their respective leadership positions.
- As a last resort, cut bait and leave a toxic environment: The demand for high-performing fundraisers and advancement professionals has never been greater. No matter the compensation and benefits sacrifice, nothing is more important than your mental health. You deserve to leave work with a mindset and spirit that will allow you to enjoy family, friends, and your life outside of work.
Bad bosses can be found in every type of workplace, spanning for-profits and nonprofits alike. The trouble in the nonprofit sector is that typically the level of job satisfaction and passion for the organization runs especially high. It is amazing what small, dedicated, and unified teams can accomplish in championing noble missions that touch, improve, and save more lives. Bad bosses put all that potential at risk. Fortunately, in the nonprofit sector, they are more the exception than the rule.
How do you handle bad nonprofit bosses? Let us know in the comments.
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